Tomorrow morning is our last team practice of the season. We will be having a 50 mile ride, and at this point that seems not only manageable, but darn right short. Both the East and West Side teams will be biking together and I'm really looking forward to it, as I've missed out on the last few team gatherings. Though I have loved getting ready for this century, the timing has been a little stressful. My current movie finishes production at the end of March, meaning that I am currently working ten hour days throughout the week, and working every Saturday. I have special permission to come into work late this Saturday, as I really want to go to this last practice.
Though I have been busy the past few weeks, I've still been going to the gym almost everyday, and cycling on my own every Sunday. Last weekend I biked from my front door in Marina del Rey all the way to Neptune's Net in Malibu, and back, clocking in at 75 miles. That's about 14 miles further than I have ever gone before.
This photo is actually from the previous weekend's bike ride, when it was not as sunny.
I got up early on Sunday determined to do some serious miles. The beach bike path near my house stretches north a good ten miles before ending at Will Roger's State Park, so I decided to follow that and then segway up the PCH into Malibu. I felt especially motivated not only because I am so close to the main event, but also because it was a stunning day.
As I worked my way north I tuned my iPod to my work out mix to jam with some early 90's pop music and enjoyed the morning breeze off the ocean. I went past the Venice Beach boardwalk and decided that it is possibly the best place in Los Angeles to people watch. I saw one woman wearing a towell and lingerie, a guy biking with a black poodle in his back pack, and a fair assortment of early morning surfers, body builders and joggers. The Santa Monica pier, with its precariously situated roller coaster, loomed in the misty distance, but soon I had put it miles behind me as I rolled up into southern Malibu. I hopped onto the PCH and went another ten miles until I reached Malibu Bluffs, which is where the team usually meets to start our rides.
I have to say that it felt pretty amazing to have biked a distance that I usually drive, a distance that a few short months ago I never would have considered tackling. I took a break to stretch my legs and ate a snack, and my bike and I squeezed into the ladie's handicap restroom for a quick potty break. Luckily there were few people about to see me at my most paranoid, but this close to the Solvang it would be more than upsetting to have my bike lost or stolen.
From there I was on familiar terrain, and the next 16 miles seemed to fly by. Before I knew it those infamous hills just past Malibu Bluffs were past me, and I was cruising along beautiful coastline watching the surfers and volleyball players. Every once in awhile I looked at my cyclometer and mentally doubled the distance I traveled. Every landmark that I passed I would think "If I turned back here I will have gone 40 miles when I get back home."
In no time at all Mariah Carey was crooning into my ear as I rolled into Neptune's Net. I pulled into the parking lot to hang out for a few minutes with the other bikers, the kind who ride Harley's instead of Cannondales. I had reached 36 miles, a pretty darn respectable half way point.
The minute I turned around to head home I immediately noticed a complete lack of wind. Biking north all morning I had been going into the wind, and heading south it felt like I was just coasting downhill all the way home. When I got back to Malibu Bluffs I took another break and leisurely enjoyed my last energy bar. There was a small part of me that wished my car was parked there, so I could just load up and effortlessly drive home. But the larger part of me was excited that I had come so far, and I knew that the hardest part of my ride was now behind me. I filled up my water bottles and kept right on rolling towards home. The Santa Monica and Venice areas were more crowded later in the day, so it was a bit like playing Frogger as I weaved past roller bladers and beach cruisers.
Look at those mountains!When I got back to the Marina I felt surpsingly good. I was pretty sore but I didn't feel completely worn out. I checked my miles and I noticed that just going home would leave me a few miles short of 75, so I actually took a detour down the Ballona Creek path to Dockweiler beach, and then biked around my cul de sac 6 times to get the numbers to creep up to an even 75. I don't know why I wasn't satisifed with 72.6, but there was a part of me that knew I could keep going and I wanted that 3/4 of a century under my belt. I finished the ride feeling very prepared for Solvang.
Later in the day I told my step dad about the miles I had traveled, and he joked that I could make it home to Ohio in about 45 days.
I've received so many wonderful words of encouragement in the past few weeks. As the big ride approaches not a day goes by that I don't hear from friends and family letting me know that they will be thinking of me this Saturday. I was especially delighted to get this card in my mailbox yesterday.
My Grandma Dixie has been making beautiful greeting cards the past few years, and I always get a thrill when I see her handwriting on an envelope in my mail box.
How sweet is that?
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